by Maegan Moore I remember the week before the Fellows program began, glancing at the calendar for the upcoming inaugural month of my Fellows year and immediately feeling overwhelmed. We doso much. How can all of these seemingly unrelated responsibilities have any relation to each other?
But it didn’t take long to see two things. This year was not just about doing things in abundance. Instead, this year was about being faithful with all that we were given to do. It was about continuing to work out what it means to live out our vocations–our calling to our families, church, community, work, etc. And this was only possible in the context of a body of believers–and so our journey towards coherence began, together.
Every week we were able to practice the liturgy of doing together the things that formed us.
Together, we sat in the Trinity sanctuary and listened to Pastor Greg walk us through Philippians while asking the question: “What does it mean to live as a community of friends?”
Together, we shared meals and times of fellowship, learning to hope for each other, hear each other, and carry one another’s burdens.
Together, we were invited into the homes of our host families and ushered into the routine rhythms of daily life–finding Kingdom realities at the kitchen table and in the playroom.
Together, we wrestled to understand that our work really matters–even in the nine-hour days of entering data into spreadsheets, making copies, and scheduling appointments.
Together, we learned to show up–even when we were weary and in shambles. We learned to find rest in one another.
Together, in our shambles, we learned to anchor words about community in concrete and tangible expressions of love, trust, forgiveness, and reconciliation.
Together, we did our best to enthusiastically participate in the formation of the young, middle school and high school image bearers of God, even when we felt like we were speaking a different language.
Together, we marinated in ideas, relationships, and experiences that equipped us to go do all things to the Glory of God.
Everything we do is Holy work. But the whole of what we do must be greater than the sum of its parts. In anything and everything we do, we have the opportunity to work out our primarycalling as a disciple of Christ. And it is only in the context of community that we can learn to steward what we have been given and all that we do.
As a native(ish) North-westerner, I have a strong affection for the Redwoods. These massive trees, over 600 years old, are able to survive on the windiest coast in the U.S. because of their root system. Each tree relies on the surrounding Redwoods so that they don’t topple over; their roots spread out instead of down, linking together and holding each other in place–accountable in growth. As we grow, we need other people to keep us honest–to build habits of trust and transparency. We need to engage in conversation with those who will challenge us. We were designed to work out our vocational calling in the context of a body of believers.
Over the past nine months, since my first glance at the fellows schedule, the things that first looked like disjointed responsibilities of being a Fellow–to be a good tutor, a host-daughter, a friend, a student, a small group leader–have all begun to fall into the picture of our holistic, comprehensive responsibility as disciples of Christ. I have seen God’s glory worked out in all of these spheres–crossing the humanly constructed lines of dualism that too-often divide. In His goodness, He allowed me to begin to see these fragmented bits of threads being woven together into a fabric as part of a larger weaving.
And so, perhaps the most important thing we learned this year was that “whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col. 3:17). To live out the Gospel, together.
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Maegan Moore interned at the Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Virginia during her fellows year and will continue on with the Institute full-time.